Credit: Brett Turner
Credit: Brett Turner
CoHatch: The Market
Named Best of Springfield 2023 for Best Lunch Spots, COhatch Springfield (known as The Market), offers not only working space but also a wide variety of food, drink and shopping. Located in the Myers Market building, at 101 S. Fountain Ave.
Vendors include:
Chido’s Tacos
Ironworks Waffle Cafe
Sushi Hikari Moe
The Paper Moon & Co
All Saints Grill
Crust & Company
OH! Boba CoHatch Springfield
North High Brewing - The Market
Mother Stewart’s Brewing
Located in a historic warehouse in downtown, 102 W. Columbia Street, Mother Stewart’s is an event-driven craft brewery with taproom and outdoor beer garden. There are year-round events and live music. In the summer and fall, music festivals and food trucks spill onto the surrounding streets with visitors numbering in the thousands. In the winter, the brewery is home to the Market at Mother’s indoor farmers market, live music, film screenings, and other indoor activities.
Mother Stewarts Brewing is also the Best of Springfield 2023 winner for best bar.
Credit: Barbara J. Perenic
Credit: Barbara J. Perenic
Champion City Guide & Supply
Champion City Guide & Supply is owned and operated by the Greater Springfield Partnership and the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau. Champion City is a “brick & mortar” retail store and visitor center featuring heritage apparel, local artisan goods and Springfield-centric merchandise.
The store is located in the heart of downtown Springfield on Fountain Avenue.
Champion City Guide & Supply capitalizes on Springfield’s rich history while creating a link to the area’s numerous heritage sites and tourism destinations. Their custom-designed apparel is inspired by Springfield’s entrepreneurial spirit and legendary figures including the Champion Reaper Company, International Harvester, the 4-H Club of America, boxer Davey Moore and Lillian Gish.
Buck Creek State Park
Buck Creek State Park, 1976 Buck Creek Lane, and the Clarence J. Brown Dam & Reservoir, 2630 Croft Rd., are where Springfield and surrounding area residents can get away from it all without having to go far for outdoor recreational activities. Though separate, the two entities are basically partner organizations as The Army Corps of Engineers of Engineers, which runs the reservoir, leases the park to the state.
With 1,896 acres of park land and a 2,120-acre lake, the park offers year-round access to activities for various seasons: fishing, hunting, hiking, a snowmobile area, bicycling trails and horse trails. Add in two beaches — a 2,400-foot beach for the public and a 400-foot beach for campers and picnic areas and it sets off daydreams of the great outdoors.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Heart of Ohio Antique Center
4785 East National Road, Springfield, OH 45505
The center, which has nine buildings and “close to a million items on display,” has around 670 individual antique dealers that display their merchandise. Jacob Berner said if you buy from there, you’re supporting the local economy. The center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., except on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The café hours are the same, except opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 5:30 p.m. on weekends.
Westcott House
Famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright may never have lived in Springfield, Ohio, but a home that he designed and built continues to stand here as testimony to his creative genius.
The Westcott House, located at 1340 East High St., is one of 350 remaining Wright houses in the world and is the only one in Ohio with the primary purpose of serving the public as well as preserving the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Springfield Museum of Art
The Springfield Museum of Art was incorporated in 1952 by a group of concerned artists and citizens who felt a need for a visual arts facility in the community. In the early years, exhibitions were held in borrowed spaces. The organization responded to the community’s demand and began offering art classes to both adults and children.
The museum endured financial hardships in the early 2000s and turned around through a combination of donor and community support. It gained strong partnerships, including becoming a Smithsonian Affiliate Museum, and recently gained attention through high-profile exhibitions such as the “Black Lives as Subject Matter II” that earned the Ohio Museums Association awarded Best Exhibition Award in 2021.
The Museum was accepted into the Smithsonian Affiliates program in 2012, and is currently the only affiliated art museum in Ohio according to the museum website.
The SMoA is located at 107 Cliff Park Road. For more information on the event or museum, go to www.springfieldart.net/.
Heritage Center
The Clark County Historical Society was founded by local G.A.R. veterans in 1897 who felt that it was high time for this progressive city of Springfield to save its own historical objects and protect them for future generations.
When Springfield’s City Hall and Marketplace faced the threat of demolition in 1990, the city and county commissioners, the Historical Society, and the people of Clark County stepped in to save it. It was the sales tax paid by the residents of the County that made it possible to convert the City Building into a first-class museum and center for the preservation of local history.
In March 2001, the Clark County Historical Society moved into the building of its birth as an organization.
The Heritage Center is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free, but financial donations are welcome. For more information about the Historical Society and Heritage Center, go to www.heritage.center/.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Hartman Rock Garden
Hartman, a folk-art garden found in a residential neighborhood in southwest Springfield, saw more than 13,000 visitors in 2022, mostly between the months of March through October.
Interest in the garden has also grown over the past 10 years because of websites like Atlas Obscura, a collection of unique places for curious travelers.
The Depression-era rock garden is known for its sculptural works, fountains, fishing pond and more surrounded by flowers. The art was created by H.G. Ben Hartman, who constructed each piece by hand with materials like concrete, stone, metal and glass.
The public can visit the gardens any time of the year during daylight hours at 1900 Park Road in Springfield. For more information, visit https://shorturl.at/n6uLL or www.facebook.com/spgaohio.